Normal Lives

01/20/2005

And the rains came down…

Being here in Southern California during record-breaking rainfall has been an experience! It reminds me of the song that says, “It never rains in Southern California, but man it pours!” It is good to see the sun again now, after being evacuated from our RV during the worst of the storms.

Relaxing in our RV one night, listening to the rain hit our roof; there was a knock at our door--the park we were in was being evacuated. We could take our home, or just pack a bag and leave it behind for now. We decided to just pack a bag and head over to my brother’s house, being that it was dark and wet and not the best of conditions for hauling our home out of there. We thought our RV would be fine since it was sitting on higher ground.

The problem was that the road leading in and out of the park was flooding over in three places and it wouldn’t be long before there would be no way in or out until the rain stopped. The rain did not stop for many days. When we called the park days later, when the rain finally stopped, we received some shocking news! Jim asked about going back to Prado Regional Park, and the woman on the phone said, “There is no park. The dam overflowed.” You can imagine our “surprise!” We asked about our RV, which was still in the park, and she said we would receive a phone call back letting us know… It was only about ten minutes later that the phone rang, and we found out that our home was fine. It sat up on a hill and had weathered the flooding.

Many here have lost homes, some have even lost loved-ones in mudslides, and there is still work going on with Prado Dam. You may have seen it on the news. It was not just overflowing, they discovered a leak. All of this is a small amount of water compared to the Tsunami in Southern Asia, but if it is your home, your loved-one, it’s no small amount of anything…it is life-changing.

Life is continually changing, nothing remains the same and if we do not learn how to depend on God and rise above the storms in life, we will drown in them. Jim and I thought by leaving Denver, the worst of the weather would be behind us. Then we got evacuated from our RV in Southern California?! How odd is that?

As the sun and warmer weather returns, those from this area nod and confirm that this is normal…normal…we like normal, don’t we? Don’t rock the boat, don’t stir up trouble, don’t step out of that comfort zone for fear of upsetting our “normal” lives…

And yet Jesus calls us to follow Him. How do we do that and still live a normal life? It’s nearly impossible, if not completely impossible. Jim and I are not living a normal life right now. Our seemingly normal life got disrupted, not of our choosing, nor to our liking, but “life” interrupted what we thought we wanted and in that “interruption,” God called us to follow Him on an eternal path, one that begins on earth each day we live.

“You search the Scriptures because you believe
they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point
to me! Yet you refuse to come to me so that I
can give you this eternal life.”
John 5:39-40 (NLT)

When Jesus calls us out of our normal life and says, “Come,” we are quick to refuse. There’s too much at stake, too much to lose, too much to give up… I understand that! If I had been given the choice, I would have refused too! If the doctor had sat there and said, “Here’s your choice. Your son can have Leukemia and go through years of treatment, perhaps even dying in the process, or you can go home tonight, back to your normal life with a healthy son and continue on as you are.” Which do you think I would have chosen? It’s a no-brainer!!! I would have told him, “I’m heading back to our normal life.”

But that is not what the doctor said. He looked at us from across his desk as our son lay in a bed down the hall eight and a half years ago and he tried to reassure us--he said, “You look like a strong family. I’m sure you will get through this.”
“Get through what?” I thought…I truly had no idea what was ahead of us at that point.

Our life has not been normal since. And it seems that it gets less and less normal as we travel on with Jesus. But He says, “Come to me so that I can give you this eternal life.” Do we refuse that call now? Do we accept the gift of eternal life that He died to give us, but refuse to answer His call beyond that? We could…we very possibly could. It would not put our ticket into heaven in jeopardy. That is a free gift, given to us when we open up our hearts to receive Him. It’s in the bank, so to speak, and we will cash it in on the day we are called home. That is a very good feeling, indeed!! Our eternity is secure with Him.

“I assure you, those who listen to my message
and believe in God who sent me have eternal life.
They will never be condemned for their sins, but
they have already passed from death into life.”
John 5:24 (NLT)

But now what? Is there anything more?

Oswald Chambers writes:

Then there follows the second mighty work of grace—“and inheritance among them which are sanctified.” In sanctification the regenerated soul deliberately gives up his right to himself to Jesus Christ, and identifies himself entirely with God’s interest in other men.” (Jan. 10th, My Utmost For His Highest)

If I give up my right to myself, what happens to my normal life? It ain’t so “normal” anymore. Oh, it doesn’t mean you have to live in an RV and travel to places where the rains fall by the bucketful--it may mean you stay right where you are. You continue on with the job you are working in, you raise your children, you fight for our country, you deal with a great illness, you experience huge success or go through bankruptcy…the list could be endless…the only question to ask yourself is, have you “Come to Jesus?” Have you bowed before Him and given up any right to yourself? That’s a scary thing to do, because it may cost you everything that’s normal, or it may cost you nothing at all, but you won’t know until you give up any right to yourself and your own desires…

This is a daily sacrifice, and each day that goes by without coming to Jesus and giving up any right to ourselves, is a day that draws us back into the world of normality--the world many of us would most times prefer. We may think it’s not such a bad thing because if we have never been to Disneyland, or to Tahiti, or to the top of the Alps when they’re covered with snow on a beautiful sunny day, we’d never know what we were missing out on. We’d never know the joy of watching our kids wander through Disneyland in awe of all they see, we’d never know what pure white sand feels like under our bare feet, we’d never know the breathless feeling of seeing so much beauty on a mountain peak…we’ll never know and experience all that’s available to believers if we won’t come to Jesus and search for the life that He longs to give to all of us.

“…you shouldn’t be so concerned about perishable
things like food. Spend your energy seeking the
eternal life that I, the Son of Man, can give you.
For God the Father has sent me for that very purpose.”
John 6:27 (NLT)

Why do you think Jesus talks about “seeking the eternal life” when it is already ours when we receive Him? I have to believe it’s because He doesn’t want us to miss it right here, right now, in this life. I’m not saying it’s easy or always comfortable, but I truly believe it’s worth it because this is the only life we’ve got here on earth. This is our one shot at all that is available to us through our Lord. I don’t know what heavenly eternity is going to be like but I do know we are here for a reason and if that reason is to prepare us for our eternal life in heaven, then we better not waste it piddling around with the small stuff that the enemy likes to distract us with.

We fall for the lies so quickly, living in fear, rather than listening to the Truth. We have the Truth printed out for us, in any language we need it in. God’s Word, right at our finger tips any time, day or night, and yet we listen to the lies of the enemy instead. God says He is our Provider, and yet we let the enemy fill us with fear for our provisions. God says He is our peace, and yet we let the enemy steal that peace by focusing on the “what if’s.” God says He is our strength, and yet we let the enemy steal our strength by burying us in so many unnecessary things each day.

We are all in this together. Not one of us escapes these battles! That’s the world we live in. The question is what will we do when battles rage, when we can’t stay focused, when we grow weary? I grew weary the other day…the battle that we are in right now to come to Jesus became too much. Jim and I had to retreat, and retreat we did. Not long, not far, but just far enough and just long enough to empty out the lies that the enemy was filling us with and then fill up those places with God’s Truth. As my oldest brother said, “Even boxers go to their corners to be refreshed.” Why do we think we have to stay in the battle until we are dead? Even Jesus retreated…

Jesus saw that they were ready to take him by force
and make him king, so he went higher into the hills alone.
John 6:15 (NLT)

Retreating feels like failing…but it is not. It is a wise battle tactic that God has given us to help us move on and continue to come to Him in the future. If we don’t retreat from time to time, we probably will fail because we will start working in our own strength, not in God’s. That is a huge mistake. The battle is too great and the enemy is too clever for us. The enemy comes in every size, shape, lie, concoction, direction and temptation we could ever think of and so many more. He has been around a whole lot longer than we have…we have 70 or so years here, if we are blessed…he has been around a whole lot longer than that. He has seen every human being that has walked the face of this earth, he has tempted and tried to destroy each and every one of us. Our victory is in God alone, we should not even attempt to try this on our own!!

Retreat, retreat, retreat, and return to fight again another day--fortified with God’s Word, prayer and stillness before our Lord. If we do this, we will be able to give up any right to ourselves, leave the normal life behind and discover and experience things that our normal lives would never have come close to. Perhaps it is not for the faint-hearted, you may be thinking. But as believers, if we are living a faint-hearted life, we are not living the life Jesus is calling us to--we are taking our gift of salvation, saying thank you very much for all You have done, and going home with only a small part of what Jesus died to give us.

Sometimes that seems the easier way. I know that what lies before me now is not the easier way. My human nature is very shy. I would rather sit in the back row, hang with those I know well, and let others lead the way. As we continue to progress here in Los Angeles, putting together a program that will include the songs God has given my brother and me, and including with that a testimony that speaks of God’s healing power through brokenness and beyond, I am out of my comfort zone--and it has only just begun. We can’t know all that God has planned, but it doesn’t look like it is to be a normal life…

As the Pastor here preached yesterday morning on the feeding of the Five Thousand in John 6, I soaked in his words and used them as an encouragement to continue on with the work set before us here. When Jesus asks the disciples to feed all those people, they knew that was impossible…all they could come up with was five barely loaves and two fish. That wasn’t going very far. But “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and passed them out to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate until they were full.” (John 6:11 NLT)

The pastor spoke of how they fed the thousands with one small sack lunch, and I pictured a small brown bag sitting on my brother’s piano as he plays, as I tell the story…what we have to offer will not feed all those with broken hearts, all the hungry, all the lost, but when we bring what we have been given and give thanks to God and then pass it along to others, we will trust God to multiply it and speak to a hungry soul--not only blessing those who come to listen but also leaving us so full it would take many small lunch bags to carry away God’s blessing in return.

There were only five barely loaves to start with,
but twelve baskets were filled with the pieces
of bread the people did not eat.
John 6:13 (NLT)

Would I like to go back to a normal life? Sometimes, yes I would, because in some ways it appears so much easier. I could stay where I am comfortable, with those I know, doing what comes easy…but this is the life God has given me, and I want to live it to the fullest. That fullness does not come in the things, in the relationships, in the activities, it comes only in walking closely with our Lord each day. In stepping out of what is normal we are required to walk closely with Him, and that is the greatest benefit of all. In that walk, we get to see His power and His miracles on a daily basis. We get to experience the over-whelming victory that is already ours in Christ Jesus!

As I sat at the ocean just the other day, during our time of retreat, I looked out at the sea and I pictured Jesus walking towards me on the water. I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if I truly believe that to be possible, then I have nothing to fear. The laws of this world we live in do not restrict the Creator of those laws and when He asks something of us, we should follow Him without question. That should be our desire for each day, but it is only possible when we take the time to pray. As we get to know God better and better, the normal life begins to appear frustratingly boring compared to a life lived for Jesus Christ.

Continuing to learn,

Diane